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I just stumbled on this Las Vegas website ... and it looks like an opportunity to meet lots of other slot machine fans. I've been making YOU TUBE videos of my slot play for over 4 years now. I moderate on Player's Life, and formerly moderated on Slot Machine Forum (now gone). I attend plenty of slot player Meet and Greets, and many of you may already know me!

Hope to make this great forum as regular stop. I love to talk slots.

Oh ... and I am located in Ontario, Canada -- but you will notice, I get to Vegas a few times a year!

Exactly right! I seem to be a creature of habit ... and I am trying to change my habits. It struck me that there could be a large group of people who have have no idea who THE SHAMUS OF SLOTS is! Here I am!

Welcome Shamus. I subscribe to and enjoy watching your videos! I'm also a fellow Ontarian.

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Hey smac ...

That's fantastic news! I really appreciate all of my viewers ... and I love the constructive feedback! I really appreciate our region having a voice in the slot world. Ontario players love their slots, even if there is plenty of room for improving the way our local (government run) casinos are managed.

Is there any value in looking for big progressive machines "ready to payoff", especially the poker videos?

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Hi gArNaBby:

The art and science of stalking big progressives is a great art -- and the answer is not straightforward. In the slot world ... there are those WAPS (Wide Area Progressives), and LAPS (Local Area Progressives). Wide area progressives (as the name suggests) usually connects many machines, often between many different properties. For Local Area Progressives, it could be a number of machines joined ... or perhaps even a self-contained progressive.

These days, it's very common to have progressives that MUST PAY BY a certain amount (for example $500). These are very common on machines by Konami, Ainsworth, WMS Gaming and more. As the name suggests, when the maximum amount is hit -- the player gets that amount, even if the progressive has not been triggered. It's really important to pay attention to how quickly the progressive is rising. On many Konami machines, you will see progressives advance a penny every one or two spins. However, on WMS machines, the progressives are advanced based on what is being paid out. This is important to consider if you are planning to "chase" the progressive.

As you suggest, a progressive could get large enough that it becomes statistically beneficial for the player to chase a progressive. This can happen in both WAPs and LAPs. However, it is most important to know the wide area progressive is no more likely to hit.

In the end, most slots machines do not supply enough data to players for the player to make an informed decision of when a progressive is statistically worth changing. I don't think it is so much a secret --- but more a function of most players not caring about the detailed mathematical breakdown of the slot machine they are playing.

I realize my comments are not comprehensive ... but perhaps they will lead you to a more specific question! Thanks for asking.